<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Parenthood by Prochytes</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899140">Parenthood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prochytes/pseuds/Prochytes'>Prochytes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DC Extended Universe, Titans (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Pre-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:28:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>869</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prochytes/pseuds/Prochytes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a lone parent can be rough, even for the richest, smartest man in the world and a demigod. Down the years, Bruce and Diana compare notes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Diana (Wonder Woman) &amp; Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Baby Steps</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Very small spoilers for <i>Titans</i> to 2x11: “Atonement”. Swearing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Have you started her on kickboxing?” asked Bruce. </p><p>“Last week-end,” said Diana. </p><p>“Hmm. Escapology, then?”</p><p>“Donna is already starting to show an Amazon’s strength, Bruce. <i>Slipping</i> restraints isn’t exactly a priority. We don’t lose our powers when we’re tied up, despite what you made the Internet think, ass-hole.” </p><p>“That was tactical. Handy for our enemies to believe you have a Kryptonite.”</p><p>“It was trolling, and you know it.”</p><p>“Maybe you should get her grounded in the classics. They are her heritage, after all. It’s never too young for a kid to be putting up with Plato. Enduring Euripides. Suffering Sappho.”</p><p>“How long have you been waiting to drop that one?”</p><p>“Three and a half months. I like to prep ahead.”</p><p>“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”</p><p>“Sarcasm does not become you, princess.”</p><p>“I’m bringing up a teen; I need to learn the language.” Diana sipped her tea. “I take it you already have a detailed five-year plan for Dick?”</p><p>“I’m insulted you think it’s only five years long.” </p><p>Diana sighed. “I hope to all the gods that Alfred wrote most of it.”</p><p>“He had input. But Alfred seems to think that letting me sweat will improve the learning experience.”</p><p>“For Dick?”</p><p>“For me. I never really left Alfred’s goddamned schoolroom.”</p><p>Diana bit into a madeleine that had appeared at her elbow by magic better than Circe ever managed. “You never will.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Things of Internet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s called ‘Netmums’,” said Bruce, tapping at the keyboard. The screen threw its pallid light across the Cave.  </p><p>“I can see that,” said Diana. “How do you know about this site? If you say: ‘I’m Batman’, I <i>will</i> deck you. “  </p><p>“I’m a sensitive modern guy.”</p><p>Diana stared at him. Bruce sighed. </p><p>“Luthor’s up-and-coming flunky Mercy Graves is trying for a family. I’ve been monitoring her web activity. It’s…”</p><p>“… tactical. Right.” Diana rolled her eyes. “We’ll have that argument later. Scooch over.”</p><p>“I’ve been searching the forums for actionable intel,” said Bruce, as Diana settled herself beside him at the console, “on what to do when they lock themselves in their bedrooms for hours and won’t tell you shit.”</p><p>“Have you considered giving Dick space? Or maybe awkward one-way conversations through the door? I’m good at those.” </p><p>“There’s something I’m missing.” Bruce’s gaze shuttled through the threads. “You wouldn’t understand. Dick’s a special case.”</p><p>“Is he?”</p><p>“Dick Grayson,” Bruce’s fingers pounded the keys, “thinks that his sole available father-figure is an entitled control freak, obsessed by his own concept of justice, with a public reputation for boning anything that moves.”</p><p>“Donna’s adoptive grandfather,” said Diana, “is literally Zeus.”</p><p>Bruce finally looked up. Diana was regarding him with that dark compassionate gaze of hers. It was a scarier asset, by far, than the muscles or the reflexes or the lariat or the invisible jet that made no sense. He slumped. </p><p>“OK, princess. Maybe you win that round.”</p><p>Diana patted his shoulder. “Pro tip: leaving pizza outside where they can smell it usually cracks the door.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Titans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“‘Titans’,” said Diana. “She decided to call their little gang ‘the Titans’. Do you have any idea what a slap in the face that is?”</p><p>“Only what a guy could guess from Hesiod’s <em>Theogony</em>, and the first two chapters of Pseudo-Apollodorus.”</p><p>“You shouldn’t believe what you read in those scandal-rags.” Diana poked the study fire. “Why is Donna acting up like this? What did I do wrong?”</p><p>“I don’t think what you did <em>wrong</em> is the issue.” Bruce watched the logs spark and crackle in the grate. “You want my two cents?”</p><p>“You have never in your life stopped at just two cents, Bruce. Literally or metaphorically. But go on: hit me.”</p><p>“You won’t like it.”</p><p>“The almost-Goddess of Truth can take some home ones.”</p><p>“OK.” Bruce rested his chin upon his folded hands. “Dick’ll be a better man than I am, some day. Hell, he’s more than half-way there already. Donna lives with the knowledge that she can never hope to better you.”</p><p>Diana bit her lip. She hung her head, so that the black hair veiled her face. A human evasion, of the sort that Kansas did all the time; Diana more rarely. That she didn’t see it as a weakness made something in Bruce ache.</p><p>“There’s a phrase that Donna uses,” she said, eventually. “‘Older; smarter; prettier.’ She trots it out to get a rise from Dick. But you’ve made me wonder…”</p><p>“Whether she’s riffing on her own insecurities? Cracking it wise to mask the pain? Sounds plausible.” Bruce reached for the coffee-tray. “What a mercy we grew out of that.”</p><p>“Look at the pair of us. You’re the richest, smartest…” Bruce lifted his cup in acknowledgment “… smuggest man in the world. I’m a demigod, or as close to one as makes no difference. And we both homed in on the one responsibility we sucked at.”</p><p>“Me – definitely; you – not so much. But I take your point.” Bruce put down his coffee. “Why do you think we persevered?”</p><p>“Because it was worth it.”</p><p>“You still think so?”</p><p>“Absolutely. Despite ourselves, we reared two brilliant people.”</p><p>“And the better world they help to build will be uncomfortable for us to live in.”</p><p>“No parent could ask for more.”</p><p>“Great,” said Bruce.</p><p>“Titanic,” said Diana.</p><p>FINIS</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Because of the interesting pov shenanigans one gets with <i>Titans</i>, one has a fair amount of latitude at the moment in deciding exactly how badly Bruce screwed things up during those early years. For the purposes of this fic, I've opted for what's definitely the lighter end of the spectrum of possibilities. In a similar vein, we don't know much yet about this continuity's version of Diana, so I've fully exercised the licence of using anything from any of her backstories that I found helpful.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>